Category Creation: How to Build a Brand that Customers, Employees, and Investors Will Love

Anthony Kennada, Brian Halligan · First published November 25th 2019

There is no such thing as an original idea anymore-right? Actually, it turns out that the world’s most innovative companies have created so much more than just brand new products and technology. They’ve created entirely new market categories. The challenge is that successfully building new categories requires a perfect storm of luck and timing.

Or does it? Category Creation is the first and only book on the topic written by executives and marketers actively building new categories. It explains how category creation has become the Holy Grail of marketing, and more importantly, how it can be planned and orchestrated. It’s not about luck. You can use the same tactics that other category-defining companies have used to delight customers, employees, and investors. There’s no better strategy that results in faster growth and higher valuations for the company on top.

Author Anthony Kennada, former Chief Marketing Officer at Gainsight, explains how he led Gainsight in creating the “customer success” category, and shares success stories from fellow category-creators like Salesforce, HubSpot, and others. The book explains the seven key principles of category creation, including the importance of creating a community of early adopters who will rally around the problem they all share-especially if someone will lead them.

“Category Creation: How to Build a Brand that Customers, Employees, and Investors Will Love” is a book by Liraz Margalit that provides a step-by-step guide for creating and defining a new market category. The author argues that by becoming the dominant player in a new category, companies can achieve hypergrowth and create a powerful brand that resonates with customers, employees, and investors.

1. Creating a new market category is a powerful way to achieve hypergrowth and build a strong brand.
2. Define your category by identifying unmet customer needs and solving real problems.
3. Be the first mover in the category, establish dominance, and build a strong brand image.
4. Communicate the unique benefits of your category in a simple and compelling way.
5. Develop a clear and differentiated positioning strategy that sets you apart from the competition.
6. Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation to continuously improve and evolve your offering.
7. Build a loyal customer base by providing exceptional customer experience and support.
8. Hire and develop a talented team that is aligned with your mission and vision.
9. Continuously evaluate and refine your category creation strategy based on customer feedback and market trends.
10. Leverage technology and data to better understand your customers, reach a wider audience, and drive growth.